F1 - Mercedes test and 'tyre swapping'

I was watching the Sky interview of Max Mosley by Steve Ryder yesterday, he said that McLaren wouldn't have been fined $100m for spying if they had confessed in the first place. That's why Renault got away with doing something similar. I hope Ross and Toto have seen it.

It won't surprise me if Ross is made the scapegoat and gets the boot - as others have said its a matter of when, not if he goes anyway.

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Pirelli begins its evidence by saying it does not come under the jurisdiction or authority of the FIA. Pirelli is citing the case against former Renault team boss Flavio Briatore, whose FIA ban from motorsport was overturned by the French courts, as evidence that as a supplier/third party they cannot be subject to the regulations.
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Just about to post that danny. Looking like the main result of this is going to be a lot of work for the FIA legal bods to tighten up their rules - if I were RedBull or McLaren I'd immediately start dusting off the 2011 car and booking circuits for "Pirelli tyre tests" a few days before each GP for the rest of the year.

So far I have gleaned that the FIA say they didn't authorise the test but did tell Merc high level that using the '13 spec car may be ok if other teams are invited to the picnic etc.

Merc have said here's the emails and anyway it was a Pirelli test not a Merc test so we can't be held accountable and as it was a Pirelli test any invites to other teams etc are the responsibility of Pirelli.

Pirelli have said that they are outside the FIA's jurisdiction and can do whatever the **** they want thank you very much.

The FIA are going to look like a bunch of arse if this gets dismissed...

1) Mercedes points from races following the tests dismissed
2) company fined X,XXX,XXX dollars for breach of FIA rules
3) company on suspended 3 race "yellow" card
4) Pirelli - no case to answer for, but must clearly submit to the FIA all testing with any F1 team in the future.
5) Brawn will leave Merc within the next 2 races
and continuing the future path :
6) lauda takes direct control of merc team
7) pirelli leave F1 at end of season next years merc team and engine is a dog
9) lauda blames time and drives
10) lewis moves to ferrari, nico moves to RBR
11) merc team sold at end of 2014
12) brawn buys merc for 1quid
13) hires Schumacher and Button
14) wins 2015 WDC and MDC
15) i marry kylie minogue

I think that the most important fact is being missed. The FIA is now headed up by that nice Jean Todt chappie, formally of Ferrari. THerefore merc are guilty by Ferrar's test of the same tyres is not legal because the car was a bit older. Does the FIA really expect us to believe that a team cant work out the impact of the tyres on a 2 year old car would have on the current one.

Also, how come no one from the FIA noticed Merc, the day after the race, doing a few laps of the circuit?

chrismac » I think that the most important fact is being missed. The FIA is now headed up by that nice Jean Todt chappie, formally of Ferrari. THerefore merc are guilty by Ferrar's test of the same tyres is not legal because the car was a bit older. Does the FIA really expect us to believe that a team cant work out the impact of the tyres on a 2 year old car would have on the current one.

(a) the regulations allow a one-year old car to be used and (b) Ferrari had their test/development driver in the car. If Mercedes hadn't reckoned their drivers would benefit from taking part in the test they'd have used a test/development driver too.

So basically this is the Tribunal saying 'the FIA weren't clear enough about what the teams could & couldn't do, the current regs need tightening up to stop this happening again BUT Merc were pushing it too far to do what they did, and Pirelli were complicit in the event'.

Still don't see how they can really reprimand Pirelli who don't have an FIA license and so the only jurisdiction would be French law over the Pirelli/FIA contract, but the rest of it seems to reflect the situation as well as can be.

No doubt many will say "it's not fair" but then what is?

ETA - and of course some will say that this shows F1 isn't a sport, because no other high level sports have their rules/rulings mucked about with do they...

•There was no intention by either Pirelli or Mercedes to gain "any unfair sporting advantage"

So why did they not use the test driver? I would have thought that they would normally want Hamilton and Rosberg to recover after a weekends hard racing? And why did they feel the need to make them use special unmarked helmets?

So basically this is the Tribunal saying 'the FIA weren't clear enough

The tribunal seems pretty clear that Mercedes broke the rules, if they are why shouldn't Mercedes be?

The tribunal said that:

•Mercedes had broken article 22.4 of the sporting regulations by running an illegal in-season test with a current car
•The FIA's qualified approval did not and could not override article 22.4
•Mercedes "did obtain some material advantage" which "at least potentially gave it an unfair sporting advantage"

Quite a good solution IMO, counteracts the Mercedes advantage by missing the young drivers test and otherwise is just a slap on the wrist which should be lenient enough not to cause any drama from Pirelli and Mercedes.

Not really as Mercedes weren't (apparently) aware of what tyres they were using, it's unlikely they were current season ones which they will be at the young driver's test. The testing was also (apparently) dictated by Pirelli so likely wasn't the same sort of testing Mercedes would have chosen to do if they had a choice. I think just missing out on the young driver's test hurts them as much as missing the Pirelli test hurts the other teams.
Ofc if Mercedes miraculously manage to fix their high tyre wear issue in the next race or two then that should raise alarm bells

Weren't they testing the possible replacement tyres for this season (due to the delimination issues they've had at a couple of races with a certain compound) which has since been rejected as not all teams agree they can change the compounds mid-season.